A creepy selfie could’ve turned the Idaho murders case on its head… here are the chilling reasons why

A legal expert has revealed three damning reasons why a chilling selfie taken by Bryan Kohberger hours after the massacre of four University of Idaho students could help seal the accused murderer’s fate.

The creepy photo shows the quadruple homicide suspect sporting earphones and a pristine white shirt buttoned all the way up to the collar as he stands in front of a shower.

A slight grin is plastered across his face as he gives a thumbs-up to the camera.

The photo, prosecutors say, was taken at around 10:30am on November 13, 2022 – about six hours after the 30-year-old allegedly broke into a home near the college in Moscow, Idaho, and slaughtered students Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves. 

The photo was snapped about an hour after Kohberger’s cellphone allegedly placed him outside the home between 9:12 and 9:21am – indicating the suspected killer returned to the scene before the grisly murders were discovered and a distressing 911 call was placed.

The photo was revealed for the very first time in a new court document filed by prosecutors as they fired back at the defense team’s efforts to get a term describing Kohberger’s appearance struck from the trial.

That term – ‘bushy eyebrows’ – marks the defining characteristic that the victims’ only surviving roommate recalled about the masked intruder she saw inside the home at the time of the murders.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, who is the president and co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told the Daily Mail that ‘the selfie is important for several reasons’ in Kohberger’s upcoming capital murder trial.

‘First it supports the surviving roommate’s description of the perpetrator having bushy eyebrows. Here we see Kohberger with bushy eyebrows in a selfie just a few hours after the murders were committed,’ he said.

‘The second reason it’s important is it supports the theory that Kohberger showered and cleaned up after the gruesome murders.

‘And the third reason is it just looks creepy. So during the penalty phase, if Kohberger is convicted, one of the aggravating factors in support of the death penalty is a perpetrator who shows no remorse.

‘Someone who stabs and kills four college students and is taking a selfie afterwards is not someone who is remorseful for what they did.’

Prosecutors want to present the photo at trial, arguing that the jury should decide if the accused killer could be described as having ‘bushy eyebrows’ at the time of the murders. 

The sole surviving roommate, Dylan Mortensen, is expected to be a key witness in the prosecution’s case as the only person to have come face-to-face with the alleged killer inside the home and make it out alive. 

She and fellow roommate Bethany Funke lived with the three female victims at the off-campus home at 1122 King Road and they were inside at the time of the murders.  

At around 4am, Mortensen said she was awoken by sounds inside the home, according to court documents. 

She heard what sounded like whimpering coming from Kernodle’s room, as well as a man’s voice that she was sure was not Chapin’s saying: ‘It’s ok, I’m going to help you.’

Mortensen told investigators she that she opened her door and looked outside twice. 

When she did so a third time, the student came face-to-face with a man dressed in all black and a mask who walked past her doorway and headed toward the back sliding door, court documents show.  

The terrified roomie then sent a series of panicked texts to Funke and her slain roommates moments later.

Only Funke responded. The others were already dead.

Mortensen ultimately went to Funke’s bedroom, where the two young women stayed together.  

Around eight hours later, after cellphone records show their texts and calls to their roommates continued to go unanswered, they called two friends to the home, court documents show.

A harrowing 911 call was made from Funke’s phone just before midday as Kernodle’s body was discovered . 

Police arrived on the scene to find young couple Kernodle and Chapin dead in her room on the second floor. Best friends Mogen and Goncalves were both found dead in Mogen’s bed on the third floor.

All four had been brutally stabbed to death. 

Following the murders, Mortensen told police in multiple interviews and testified to a grand jury that the masked man inside their home had ‘bushy eyebrows.’

‘I just remember, like, bushy eyebrows. That’s all I could think about,’ Mortensen told investigators.

In a series of court documents, the defense has tried to cast doubt on Mortensen’s version of events – and is asking the judge to ban the term ‘bushy eyebrows’ from the trial. 

‘Although she has never identified Mr. Kohberger, testimony by [Dylan Mortensen] from the witness stand, describing bushy eyebrows while Mr. Kohberger sits as the accused at trial, will be as damning as her pointing to him and saying, “he is the man that did this,”‘ the defense argued in a recent filing.

The defense has pointed to artwork on Mortensen’s bedroom walls – some of which she had drawn – featuring ‘many pictures of eyes with prominent eyebrows’ to try to sow doubt about her recollections.

Questioning her credibility, the defense has also pointed to statements Mortensen made in police interviews where she said her memory was hazy and that she had been drunk at the time.  

Prosecutors have pushed back, arguing she has been consistent in her account. They are seeking to present the selfie as evidence of Kohberger’s ‘bushy eyebrows.’

‘Whether or not Bryan Kohberger can be described as having “bushy eyebrows” is a factual determination to be decided by the jury,’ the state argued in a court filing. 

While Rahmani said the selfie is strong evidence supporting Mortensen’s credibility as an eyewitness, what remains unclear is why Kohberger snapped the selfie in the first place – and if he sent the image to anyone. 

Rahmani said it’s possible the selfie could have been a ploy to manufacture an alibi by placing him at his home in Pullman, in Washington state, on the morning of the murders.

It could also be some sort of trophy, he said.

‘It could be someone who is happy with what happened,’ he said.

‘It’s not a typical trophy. You see serial killers who take body parts or take pictures so it’s not a classic serial killer trophy. But it just looks creepy.’

Despite the chilling selfie being an important piece of evidence, Rahmani said he does not think it’s ‘the smoking gun in the case.’

‘If I was the prosecuting attorney, I would care much more about evidence that places him at the scene of the murders,’ he explained.

To Rahmani, DNA evidence and the newly unveiled details about Kohberger’s Amazon history is ‘so much stronger.’ 

When the murders were discovered, investigators found a Ka-Bar brown leather knife sheath featuring a US Marine Corps seal next to Mogen’s lifeless body.

Trace DNA on the sheath was traced back to Kohberger using Investigative Genetic Genealogy. 

Following his arrest, further testing found it to be a statistical match to Kohberger, according to prosecutors. 

While the murder weapon has never been found, prosecutors revealed for the first time that Kohberger allegedly bought a knife in the months leading up to the killings.

According to the bombshell court filing, Amazon shopping history showed the criminology PhD student bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from the site in March 2022. 

Investigators believe that eight months later, this same type of knife was used to murder the four victims. 

Kohberger’s Amazon history also reveals that he searched for a replacement knife or sheath in the days after the murders, according to prosecutors.

Rahmani told the Daily Mail that evidence about the knife and sheath – from the DNA on the sheath to the Amazon shopping history – is ‘such strong evidence that the defense can’t even get around it.’

‘The defense is now going to have to argue that the knife was stolen from him. That it was placed at the scene and, that after he realized it was missing, he tried to search for another knife to replace it,’ he said.

‘I’m sure the defense is going to have some sort of explanation of how someone got into his apartment and took it. 

‘But the fact is his DNA is on the knife sheath. The fact is he bought the knife. The fact is that he tried to replace the knife. 

‘That puts the murder weapon found at the scene in Bryan Kohberger’s hands. That is very strong evidence.’

Rahmani added that the only explanation the defense will be able to give is that Kohberger was framed.  

‘They’re having to argue it was planted by the real killer,’ he said. ‘That will be difficult for jurors to believe.’

It’s an argument that the defense is expected to try to make, according to recently unsealed court documents. 

Kohberger’s legal team is also seeking to present alternative suspects at his trial and argue it would have been impossible for one person alone to have killed the four victims in the estimated 13-minute timeframe that the crimes occurred. 

The 30-year-old has been held behind bars since his arrest at his parents’ home in the Poconos area of Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022.

His trial is due to get under way in August. 

If convicted, he faces the death penalty.